Mallikarjun Kharge May Skip Lok Sabha Contest, Unease In Party: Sources

Mallikarjun Kharge has said he does not want to get “confined” to one constituency

New Delhi:

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge may not contest the Lok Sabha polls this time — a possibility that has rung alarm bells in some sections.

The general cannot be missing in the battlefield is the sentiment and they advocate him leading from the front. But the party veteran has pointed out a crucial aspect — the chief needs to take care the big picture without getting involved in his own personal campaign.

Mr Kharge was the one unanimous name in the candidates’ list for Karnataka that was discussed last week for the Gulbarga constituency. But he is likely to nominate his son-in-law Radhakrishnan Doddamani, sources close to him have told NDTV.

Mr Kharge had won twice from the Gulbarga constituency but lost in 2019. He has since been in Rajya Sabha, where he is the Leader of the Opposition. He has four more years left in the Upper House.

Mr Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge is a minister in the cabinet of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Reports say he is not keen on contesting the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress, in fact, is refraining from poaching state ministers for the general election – only one minister

Mr Kharge has said he does not want to get “confined to one constituency but concentrate across the country”.

The Congress has no record of party chiefs not contesting elections. In recent years, both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have contested and won, though Mr Gandhi lost party bastion Smriti Irani in 2019.

Even in the BJP, while JP Nadda is not contesting this year, in 2014 and 2019, then BJP chiefs Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah had won huge victories from Lucknow and Gandhinagar.

In the last meeting of the INDIA bloc, Mr Kharge was projected by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal as the Prime Ministerial face of the Opposition bloc. But Mr Kharge had declined, saying the matter should be discussed once the elections are over.